


Que Será, Será

by luhv



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: After events of Season 1, F/M, Human Delores - Freeform, Post Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-08-13 20:04:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luhv/pseuds/luhv
Summary: When they open their eyes to see the post-apocalypse world around them from inside of a destroyed theatre, not only do they discover that this has somehow given life back to Ben, but it has humanised somebody else too.Echoing through the burnt-out landscape are the shouts from a voice only Five recognises, calling for him. After running aimlessly in search for her, he finds a teenage girl staring dumbfounded at him, as if seeing him for the first time, just as he did. Delores.





	1. I

Their eyes gradually opened, unsure if they were alive or dead as their heads spun and hearts raced. With their hands still clasped together and Vanya laying unconscious in Luther's arms, they all looked at eachother, breathing heavily as they took in their surroundings. The Icarus Theatre was barely standing, only a few columns remaining and the structure in heaps of rubble on the floor, the flicker of flames slowly dying out as there was nothing much to burn now. A thick grey cloud covered the sky, blocking most of the suns light from reaching the ground, and there was only ruin and destruction surrounding them.  
"This is what the apocalypse looks like?" Luther exclaimed, being the first to let go of the others' hands.  
Five then let go along with everyone else, his lips forming a tight line, "Yep." he appeared tired and drained, his eyelids feeling heavy as if he hadn't slept in weeks.   
"You okay?" Diego asked, "You look exhausted."   
Five waked his hand in front of him, "Nah, I'm just a little tired. Nothing coffee won't fix-" a look of realisation flashed over his face, "Nevermind."  
"There is no coffee-" Klaus chipped in.  
"Yeah I know." Five snapped in response, turning and walking away a few metres before turning back to the group. But his eyes fixated on something behind Klaus, their hand dropping from his shoulder. For a moment, Five wasn't sure on who it was, but it soon became obvious; "Ben?"  
Everyone's heads spun round to look in the same direction Five was staring, and as they saw it too, their mouths gaped and eyes popped from inside their skulls. Well, all apart from Klaus, who began laughing, lightly jabbing Ben on the arm.   
"This is brilliant," Klaus said, "I can get you back for punching me around the face."   
Ben shot Klaus a sarcastic expression, "By doing that? Hardly."  
"_How_?" Diego questioned, walking over to gently prod him in the cheek, "You alive now or something?"  
"How am I supposed to know?" Ben exclaimed, slapping both Klaus' and Diego's hands away.  
Luther stepped closer, "You were dead."  
"I know that." Ben replied, "But I don't feel any different."   
Diego pointed to a column that was somehow still standing, "Can you walk through that?"   
Without answering, Ben shrugged and walked over to it, looking back once to see them all staring at him, watching eagerly. His feet stopped before the stone column, his right hand outstretched in front of him. He heard Klaus yell to just 'walk into it', and for some odd reason, he did. The next thing he knew was that he was laying on the floor, his head throbbing more than it had before. Klaus' laugh got louder as it grew closer, his head then appearing over him, looking down on him with an amused face.   
"You're alive?" He laughed, clapping his hands together, leaving Ben to get up on his own, "This is _amazing_!"  
Klaus went to jab him again on his arm, but somehow, his hand went through him, causing him to almost fall face-first onto the floor. Just when everyone thought that Ben had somehow been resurrected, they discover that it's not as it seems.  
"Five?" Klaus yelled behind his shoulder, "Yoo-hoo? Five?", but after not hearing an answer, Klaus turned around, only to see Five staring into the distance, his eyebrows furrowed deeply.   
"Shut up, Klaus." Five said, holding his hand up towards him, "Just for one minute."

Her long blonde hair was a matted and knotted mess, her turquoise eyes tear-glazed as she looked around her in panic. She was sat upright with her legs outstretched in front of her, in the middle of a jungle of rubble, the glow of a nearby flame reflecting on her skin. In a somewhat amazement, she lifted her arms, twisting her hands as she stared at them in awe. For the majority of her life, she felt preserved and paralysed inside a clothes store mannequin, not able to see or touch anything, only able to hear and feel things, and listen to the absentminded thoughts of shoppers, apart from her post-apocalypse companion who had somehow found her on the ground, with only the top half of her plastic body and a singular arm. But now, with her human body back, she felt alive again, despite being in a demolished world. As she stumbled to her feet and got the hang of walking once again, thoughts worrying about Five flooded her mind. She tried to yell, scream or shout, but no sound came out, and even if it did, she doubted he'd be able to hear her.   
But then she remembered a story Five had once told her, one that had stuck with her. It was when they were younger, and his brother Diego had trouble with speaking, especially with saying 'Don't Move!'. He'd told her what Grace used to tell him: '_Picture the words in your mind_'.   
So that's what she did. She pictured Five's name in her head, and on the top of her lungs shouted his name. It echoed around her, but there was no reply. At that moment, all the happiness of being human again drained from her and realisation hit her - what if Five hadn't of made it the same way she had? Or what if he didn't care about her anymore?  
She continued to yell, climbing uneasily over the rubble in hope of finding him, tears breaking from the corners of her eyes in panic. Her voice began to hurt, and the pain intensified as she tried to stop herself from crying, but all it did was make it worse. 

Klaus joined the rest of the group, Ben too, as they stared at Five in confusion. It was silent now, apart from the flickering fires, but there was something Five had picked up on that the others hadn't.  
"What is it, Five?" Luther asked, readjusting Vanya's position in his arms, careful not to wake her.   
He turned to face them, his eyebrows still furrowed and biting his lip, "Do you guys hear that?"  
They all exchanged looks, questioning whether Five may have gone insane. None of them could here anything, they watched as Five looked around urgently to find where the sound was coming from. But then, Ben stepped forward.  
"I hear it." he stated, "A girl, right?"  
Five nodded, but as he was about to say something, Klaus had to make a comment, "Is that one of your half-ghost abilities."  
Ben ignored his comment, "Can you make out what she's saying?"  
"Yeah. My name." Five told him, his eyes scanning the ruins urgently. He even stood on a rock to get a better view, but he wasn't able to see anything as he still wasn't high enough; "It's Delores."  
And again, everyone shot baffled looks to eachother, unsure if he'd taken something or was beyond tired he began hearing things. But the voice was so unique and treasured to Five, he would've been able to hear it anywhere, no matter the circumstances. For however long he was stuck in the apocalypse before with her as a mannequin, that voice was the only voice he heard, whether it was all in his head or not, and now to get confirmation from Ben it wasn't just him hearing it, he didn't think he was going insane anymore.   
"Someone wanna fill me in?" Diego said, his arms folded impatiently.  
Luther sighed, "Five had this obsession with this mannequin he called Delores and now he thinks he can hear her."  
Diego nodded knowingly, "I thought so. Wasn't sure if I'd missed something."   
"Me neither," Allison added, and then she froze, "Oh, my god. My voice." Her hands lifted to touch her neck as she gasped, but the moment didn't last long, "Holy shit. Claire!" Her legs buckled as she fell to the floor, tears beginning to cascade down her cheeks at the thought of never seeing her beloved daughter again.  
And that's when it hit everyone else too. Everything and everyone they'd loved is gone. They've all lost something important to them, no matter how big or small that thing was - and for Allison, she'd lost her daughter, the only thing she'd ever truly cared about.   
"Five, there's got to be something you can do. Take us back before the apocalypse so we can fix what we did wrong." Luther urged, placing Vanya on the ground beside Allison.   
"Yeah, I will." he said as he continued to search the ground, "But after we've fixed Vanya and when I'm strong enough." He decided against mentioning Delores, mainly because he still wasn't sure she was alive or not, despite Ben's 'confirmation'.

After a short while, they'd not moved much. They were sat in a circular formation on the ground, sat in silence as they stared at the ground, all thinking of irrelevant things to keep their minds occupied from the sad truth. Apart from Five, who had told them he was going for a walk, hopefully to find Delores. He was heading for the store where he'd returned her to, hoping he'd find her, expecting it to be the porcelain humanly model he'd always known and remembered.   
He was thankful the others hadn't questioned why he wasn't 'zapping' to where he wanted to go but was walking instead. It would've been awkward for him to admit that his powers had been somehow drained and currently absent after teleporting his siblings a few days into the future. 

  
It was almost impossible to follow a voice he could barely hear, but he continued to head in the direction of the clothes store, picking up his pace the closer he got, until soon enough he was running, the adrenaline kicking in. He recognised some of the streets, despite them hardly even existing anymore, and eventually he came to where the store was. The building was barely standing, just the brickwork at the base of the store and a bent sign by where the door would've been, but the rest was rubble, fallen into heaps on the ground. Five stood in front of it staring at the sign hopelessly. He couldn't hear the voice anymore, and he could feel his heart sink in his chest.

"...Five?" 


	2. II

For a moment, Five wasn't sure what to think. He'd been so used to her voice in his head, but now hearing it through his ears from behind him, he froze, convincing himself he hadn't really heard it. Delores repeated his name, the sound of her tears coming though as she stepped closer, her bare feet in blisters against the rough rubble ground. Eventually Five turned around, his eyes landing on the girl, her eyes glazed over with fresh tears, brimming to the edge, her face covered in smudged dirt, her oversized t-shirt torn and ragged, covering her frail body. Seeing him for the first time, she plunged into his arms, her head in the crook of his neck and her arms wrapped around him as she lightly sobbed into his tatted academy uniform, as well as he unstable legs shaking underneath her, still getting used to walking again after so long.   
"Delores... how?" Five gasped, holding her close to him, not used to feeling flesh against his hands rather than the plastic of her mannequin skin.  
"Shh," she whispered, holding him closer, "Give me a minute."  
Despite the many questions he had, he respected her request, keeping silent as they savoured the moment. Seeing her seemed so familiar, yet so foreign, as if they'd known eachother in another life. After a while in each other's embrace, they both pulled apart, their hands still linked, intertwined together. Five tried not to show how emotional he had become, but it proved to be too difficult.   
"I thought I'd never see you again - especially like this... I don't understand." He said to her, his voice quiet.  
She smiled sweetly, "I'll explain later-" she paused as something registered in her head, "You're powers are drained?"  
"H-how did you know?"  
"You can do all those mathematical time continuum equations but you can't figure _this _out?" she laughed softly, bowing her head in defeat, "How do you think I've been able to communicate with you this entire time?"  
His eyebrows furrowed, unsure of the answer. But she was right; he could solve almost impossible equations and now this was a struggle to him. He bit his lip, a smile tugging at the corner of them as he heard her laugh for the first time.  
"I'm not too sure..." he confessed, avoiding eye contact with her briefly.  
Continuing to laugh, she buried her head into his shoulder until she'd collected herself: "I'm a mind reader." she took a deep breath, "I was born the same day as you in the same exact way. I discovered I could read minds when I was three and I learnt how to put thoughts into people's heads."  
Five still looked confused; "I'll explain it all later," she told him, "But shouldn't we be getting back to your siblings before it gets dark?"  
Realising she was right, he nodded, but before they could set off, he locked eyes with her, sending both their hearts racing instantly.   
"I never got the chance to do this before," he whispered, before talking her cheek in one of his hands, pulling her closer, and Delores could feel her breathing hitching in her throat.  
Their lips locked, a feeling extraordinary to both of them. For so long, they had been limited in what to do, meaning mind-read conversations. Now that Delores was human, they could experience a relationship humanly. She could feel a blush rising to her cheeks, a warm feeling bubbling in her stomach as she kissed him back.  
"I guess we should get going now," Five said, almost shyly, pulling away reluctantly.  


They all were still sat in their somewhat circular formation, except for Ben and Klaus, who was hitting eachother constantly on the arms until they were numb, hoping something would happen that would give them more indication to what had happened to Ben.   
"Has anyone seen Five?" Luther asked, sounding stressed.  
Allison shook her head as she wiped her tear-stained face, "No. He walked that way though."   
Diego stood, looking towards the direction Allison had pointed, not expecting to see anything, but his eyes landed on two figures, one of them in their identical childhood academy uniforms, the other a girl, seeming slightly unstable on her feet, their hands linked together tightly.   
"Holy smokes." Diego gasped, causing everyone to stand and stare, "I think he found her."  
"Found who?" Klaus asked, walking away from Ben, just avoiding a punch which caused him to stumble forward ungracefully.  
Klaus held his hand up to his eyes, as if to cover the sun despite there being hardly any. He too saw them, drawing gradually closer. Everyone stood and glared in their direction, trying to see the features of the girl, despite being miles away. They couldn't even see the colour of her hair, or the type of clothes she was wearing.   
"That can't be." Ben gasped, his arms folded in a disbelieving manner.  
Klaus chuckled breathlessly, "It's the mannequin girl-- just not a mannequin."  
"You can't say that," Diego snapped, "Her name's Delores."   
"Right, I knew that." Klaus quickly said, brushing Diego off, "I just didn't want to get it wrong."   
Diego rolled his eyes, holding back a chuckle, focussing back on the two figures in the distance. They stood and stared for half an hour straight, watching eagerly as they grew closer, and when they saw the definite features of them both, they headed forward, leaving all belongings (very few) - and Vanya, at the camp they'd made when Five had left.   
When they met halfway, a short distance from their base, all eyes locked on the girl, who became suddenly shy under all the gazes. Her hand held onto Five's harder, snuggling into his side a little as they circled around them. Her hair covered half her face, acting like a guard to her as the nerves bubbled inside her from the sudden pressure.   
"Who. Are you?" Klaus asked, reaching forward to touch her hair, but she wafted his hand away gently, smiling uncomfortably to show that she wasn't being mean by her action.   
Five shot Klaus an irritated look, "Give her some space, Klaus. She's not been human for long."  
"What?" Allison stammered, "What do you mean '_Not been human for long'?" _  
Delores looked over at Five, chuckling lightly, almost straining her neck, "You had to say that?"  
"Sorry," he whispered, "It slipped out." 

They gathered around the fire, Vanya casually laying on the ground in her not-so-white suit with her head on Luther's folded jacket. Delores was sat next to Five, his arm around her protectively, one of her legs over his. Klaus found it difficult to look at them, each time a dull-ache weighing in his chest, imagining his times with Dave during their year together. SInce the apocalypse, he hadn't found the energy to conjure him.   
"How exactly has this happened?" Luther asked Delores, unable to wrap his head around something that wasn't related to the moon.  
"As in me becoming human or..?" she questioned, unsure on what he was referring to.   
Luther nodded, "Yeah, well, all of it really."  
Delores sighed, thinking on how to describe it. Even Five didn't know about how everything had happened, not in detail anyways. She'd briefly mentioned a few things, but with all the stress with the equations and solving who caused the apocalypse, he hadn't really remembered every single think she'd told him.  
"Well," she began, starting from where it had all started, "A few days after Five had disappeared, Reginald tried to reach out to the other children born on October 1st 1989, hoping that one could replace this missing idiot," she nudged Five playfully, before returning to her story, "He somehow found me, and discovered the fact I was a mind-reader, and-"  
Diego held his hand up, stopping her, "You're a mind-reader? And you were born on the same day? Why do you look 14 still?"  
"Patience, Diego. I'll get there." she told him, "Anyway, he found me and discovered I could read-minds and so-on. He offered a large amount of money to buy me to my parents, who for some reason accepted and were willing to hand me over..." her voice trailed off, the heartbreaking memory of when it all occurred reappearing in her mind, but she shook it away to continue, "But I refused. I threw a massive tantrum, almost knocked him out. Eventually he gave up and left me be, but I could tell he wasn't going to give up. A few weeks later, I became conscious, but I couldn't see, or hear, or feel anything. I was senseless. All I had was my ability to read minds, see what they were focussed on seeing, or what they'd focussed on hearing. I was then, or what I gathered from others minds, passed on from Reginald to this woman '_The Handler_' I think she was called, and I was just a simple mannequin from your local thrift store." Delores paused to catch her breath, trying not to visually show how these memories and feelings affected her, letting her hair cover one of her teary eyes, "She then seemed to travel forward in time by one of those brief cases, and dumped me on the ground, with no thoughts to read. For a long time, I was left there, my own mind left to think, paralysed and preserved in a plastic clothing displayer-" Five shook his head at that, disagreeing. Delores as a mannequin was all he'd known, so he obviously saw her as that form in a different light; "But then I could hear thoughts, like a faint echoing voice in my head. I could see myself though Five's vision as he processed what he'd seen, and I could see the apocalypse as he took in his surroundings. And from that day, for over thirty years, we've been together. I've put what I was thinking into his head in a response from what he said to me."  
"But you said you couldn't hear..?" Alison questioned, her head slightly tilted.  
"As he spoke, his mind thought about what he was saying. It's how minds work. Sorta." he looked over at Five, who seemed baffled by it all, taken back by all the information.  
Klaus blinked with wide eyes for a moment, "And I oop-"  
Delores laughed at this, despite not knowing what he was referencing to. She found that Klaus was someone she'd get along with, and empathise with regarding his situation with Dave, even if she knew that Klaus felt awkward looking at them both.  
"But then, when Five came back on the day of Reginald's funeral, for some reason I can't understand, I came back too. It was like we were linked, and whatever time he'd teleport to, I came with him, despite possibly being miles away or wherever the mannequin was at that moment in time. But when he came back for me, and those assholes tried to shoot us up, I just knew that what I felt and what he felt was real." she saw a blush form on Five's cheeks, "And now, I when I woke up and could see everything around me, and feel things, and walk, I wasn't sure what had happened to me. I felt lost, up until Five found me again. It's just odd... being human again after so long."  
There was silence after she'd finished, everyone trying to take in the heaps of information she'd just barred out at them - even five was struggling to take it all in.  
"I don't understand." Ben stated, standing onto his feet, giving up on trying to comprehend it.  
Klaus looked up at him, "Neither, but at least I'm looking as if I do!" he turned back to Delores, "No offence."  
She shrugged, "I knew anyway. Everyone's thinking the same, I can read your minds, remember." she looked up to Ben, but appeared to look straight through him, "Who were you even talking to?"  
Klaus' jaw dropped, "You can't see this idiot?" Ben scowled, "Lucky you."   
"Should I?" she queried.  
Five shook his head, "Nah. Nobody but Klaus could before this. Now we all can."  
"Oh..." Delores thought for a second, remembering something from a while ago, "I think I know what's going on."  
"What?" Klaus gasped, eager to know since Ben and him had got nothing.  
"He's stuck in limbo. Half dead, half alive. His body's dead, but his mind never stopped. Or something like that."   
Klaus held his hands up, "This girl's a genius. I'm going to get ready to sleep."  
Klaus stood up and headed away from the circle, maybe to find some rags or something to use as a blanket. The others quickly went to do the same, leaving Five and Delores cuddled by the fire, the flames flickering in their face, reflecting in their eyes. Delores could hear the confused and stressed thoughts of the others, a bunch of voices fighting for spotlight in her head. It made her tired, and she rested her head on Five's shoulder, letting her eyes close and sleep consume her, for what felt like the first sleep she had in however long she'd been a mannequin. 


End file.
